Several prominent short sellers have targeted Freedom Holding, a Nasdaq-listed Kazakh financial counsel firm. As a result of compliance issues, insider stock moves, and an offshore affiliate tied to sanctioned individuals, federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Freedom Holding.

According to documents seen by and people familiar with the matter, the SEC’s Boston regional office has been investigating Freedom since months ago. Timur Turlov, a former Russian citizen, is the 35-year-old billionaire CEO of the company, which has a $5 billion market cap and is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

According to documents seen by show, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts is also investigating Freedom. Often, these inquiries follow civil investigations that uncover evidence of possible crimes.

After Friday morning’s report, Freedom shares fell as much as 9.3%, but closed up 1.52%. The stock traded 4.5 times its 10-day average Friday as nearly 364,000 shares changed hands.

SEC and DOJ probes examine Freedom’s internal controls and offshore operations, as well as Turlov’s claims that Freedom can provide access to hot U.S. initial public offerings.

Turlov and Freedom are aware of the SEC investigation, which has been ongoing for months. The Justice Department’s involvement with these issues is more recent, documents show. These investigations can take years and may not result in criminal or civil charges. As of yet, there have been no formal charges or allegations of wrongdoing. 

In an interview published Thursday by a Kazakh outlet, Turlov acknowledged that “almost all global regulators visited us this summer.”